OBEZİTE VE İSTİHDAM: TÜRKİYE ÖRNEĞİ

Öz

Obezite, istihdama zarar verebilecek yıkıcı bir sağlık durumudur. Türkiye Sağlık Araştırmaları anketlerinden yararlanarak ve doğrusal bir olasılık modeli ve öne çıkan bir eşleştirme yöntemi olan entropi dengeleme dahil olmak üzere iki farklı yöntemi uygulayarak obezitenin istihdam üzerindeki etkisini araştırmaktayız. Türkiye Sağlık Araştırmaları Türkiye’deki yetişkin bireyleri temsil etmekte ve 2008 yılından bu yana her iki yılda bir yapılmaktadır. Anketler yüzyüze görüşme şeklinde veriler toplanarak uygulanmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, obezite ve istihdam arasındaki ilişkinin cinsiyete göre farklılıklarını incelemekteyiz. Ayrıca, obezite ve istihdam arasındaki korelasyonun 2008 ve 2016 yılları arasında kuvvetlenip kuvvetlenmediğine ışık tutulmaktadır. Betimsel analizler obez kadınların sadece yüzde 16’sının; obez erkeklerin ise yüzde 70’inin istihdam edildiğini göstermektedir. İki metod da obezitenin kadın istihdamını azalttığını göstermektedir. Ancak erkek istihdamı için istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir ilişki söz konusu değildir. Obezite, genç nüfus dışında tüm yaş grupları için kadın istihdamını önemli ölçüde azaltırken, erkek istihdamı için sonuçlar anlamlı bir ilişki sağlamamaktadır. Yıllara göre obezite etkileşim terimleri, obezitenin istihdam üzerindeki olumsuz etkisinin zayıfladığını göstermektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Obezite
• Cinsiyet
• İstihdam
• Eşleştirme Metodu

OBESITY AND EMPLOYMENT: EVIDENCE FROM TURKEY

Öz

Obesity is a devastating health condition that may harm employment. We investigate the impact of obesity on employment by utilizing five waves of Turkey Health Surveys and executing two different methods, including a linear probability model and a prominent matching method, entropy balancing. Turkey Health Surveys are representative of Turkey’s adult population and have been conducted biennially since 2008. The surveys involve data collection using face to face interviews. In this study, we examine the differences in the relationship between obesity and employment by gender. We also shed light on whether the correlation between obesity and employability strengthened or weakened between 2008 and 2016. Descriptive analyses show that only 16% of obese females are employed while 70% of obese males are employed. Both methods suggest that obesity reduces employment for females. However, for males, there is no statistically significant relationship. Obesity significantly reduces female employment for all age groups except for younger cohorts, while for male employment, the results do not appear to provide a meaningful relationship. The significant interaction terms for obesity by year suggest that the negative effect of obesity on employment weakened overtime in Turkey.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Obesity
• Employment
• Gender
• Matching Method

Kaynakça

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